There is
much media hype these days about the present and projected shortage of
priests and its effect on the sacramental life of the Church. It is time to
pay close attention to the dioceses and religious communities reporting
increasing numbers of candidates. There have to be reasons for these
increases that bear objective analysis from which some conclusions can be
drawn.

I personally
think the vocation "crisis" in this country is more artificial and contrived
than many people realize. When dioceses and religious communities are
unambiguous about ordained priesthood and vowed religious life as the Church
defines these calls; when there is strong support for vocations, and a
minimum of dissent about the male celibate priesthood and religious life
loyal to the magisterium; when bishop, priests, Religious and lay people are
united in vocation ministry—then there are documented increases in the
numbers of candidates who respond to the call.

It seems to
me that the vocation "crisis" is precipitated and continued by people who
want to change the Church's agenda, by people who do not support orthodox
candidates loyal to the magisterial teaching of the Pope and bishops, and by
people who actually discourage viable candidates from seeking priesthood and
vowed religious life as the Church defines the ministries.

I am
personally aware of certain vocation directors, vocation teams and
evaluation boards who turn away candidates who do not support the
possibility of ordaining women or who defend the Church's teaching about
artificial birth control, or who exhibit a strong piety toward certain
devotions, such as the Rosary.

When there
is a determined effort to discourage orthodox candidates from priesthood and
religious life, then the vocation shortage which results is caused not by a
lack of vocations but by deliberate attitudes and policies that deter
certain viable candidates.

And the same
people who precipitate a decline in vocations by their negative actions call
for the ordination of married men and women to replace the vocations they
have discouraged. They have a death wish for ordained priesthood and vowed
religious life as the Church defines them. They undermine the vocation
ministry they are supposed to champion.

An article
in the Catholic World Report (May 1995), by Michael Flach, analyzes the
remarkable increase in vocations to priesthood in the Arlington, Va.,
diocese.

Father James
Gould, diocesan vocation director, explains the reasons for their success:
unswerving allegiance to the Pope and magisterial teaching; perpetual
adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in parishes, with an emphasis on praying
for vocations; and the strong effort by a significant number of diocesan
priests who extend themselves to help young men and women remain open to the
Lord's will in their lives.

I see this
formula for success in vocation ministry in our neighbouring Diocese of
Lincoln, Neb., which has 45 seminarians preparing for the priesthood and a
significant number of young priests at work in a largely rural diocese with
84,000 Catholics.

In the
Archdiocese of Omaha, I am encouraged by the dynamic thrust for vocations to
the priesthood and religious life that is present. We will have at least 36
seminarians next fall, 28 in pre-theology and theology, with clear
indications of increases in the coming years.

Our vocation
strategy is drawn from successful ones in other dioceses: a strong orthodox
base that promotes loyalty to the Pope and bishop; a vocation director and
team who clearly support a male, celibate priesthood and religious
communities loyal to magisterial teaching; a presbyterate that takes
personal ownership of vocation ministry in the archdiocese; two large Serra
clubs in Omaha that constantly program outreach efforts to touch potential
candidates; more and more parents who encourage their children to consider a
vocation to priesthood and religious life; eucharistic devotion in parishes
with an emphasis on prayer for vocations, and vocation committees in most of
our parishes that focus on personally inviting and nourishing vocations.

Positive response

I find young
people everywhere in the archdiocese who want to be Church with Pope John
Paul. They want to know what the Church teaches through its magisterium.
They want to be part of the unity of the Church and not caught up in dissent
and disunity. They are willing to listen to the call to the priesthood,
religious life and lay ministry in the Church, and they want to be supported
by people in their response to that call.

A recent
work in the sociology of religion by Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, "The
Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in our Religious
Economy," makes the point that the more a religious organization compromises
with society and the world, blurring its identity and modifying its teaching
and ethics, the more it will decline.

"Religious
organizations are stronger to the degree that they impose significant costs
in terms of sacrifice and even stigma upon their members", it was found. If
these findings are true for religion in general, they are certainly true for
vocations to the priesthood and religious life in particular.

I am
convinced that shortages of vocations in any part of the country can be
reversed by people who share enthusiastically in the agenda of the Church.
We have to learn from the dioceses and communities who are experiencing an
increase in vocations.

If we are
not willing to recognize and accept the reasons for their success and
incorporate them into our own local efforts, then we allow ourselves to
become supporters of a self-fulfilling prophesy about the shortage of
vocations because we fail to take advantage of the opportunities that we
have for increasing the number of candidates for the priesthood and vowed
religious life.

Young people
do not want to commit themselves to dioceses or communities that permit or
simply ignore dissent from Church doctrine. They do not want to be
associated with people who are angry at the Church's leadership or reject
magisterial teaching. They do not want to be battered by agendas that are
not the Church's, and radical movements that disparage their desire to be
priests, Religious or loyal lay leaders in the Church.

Basic orthodoxy

The dioceses
and religious communities that promote orthodoxy and loyalty to the Church;
the ones that mobilize priests and people to call young men to the ordained
priesthood despite the opposition of those who rail against a male, celibate
priesthood; the ones that want their members to be real churchmen and
churchwomen that are committed to prayer and holiness as a primary
requisite—these are the dioceses and communities that will enjoy increasing
numbers of candidates and will disprove the forecasts of decline in
vocations everywhere in the Church because of their successes locally.

The need
today is for strong leadership in vocation ministry: bishops willing and
able to confront dissent that weakens support for vocations; vocation
directors and teams loyal to the magisterial teaching of the Church
regarding ordained priesthood and vowed religious life; presbyterates and
religious communities willing to call forth candidates who share their
loyalty to the Pope and bishops and the agenda of the Church; faithful lay
people willing to constantly pray for vocations and support them at every
turn.

When this
formula, based on total fidelity to Church teaching, is followed in dioceses
and religious communities, then vocations will increase. Present statistics
support this premise. This is the reason there will be dioceses and
religious communities that will have adequate numbers of priests and
Religious in the future.

Vocations
are out there for those who will collaborate together to personally invite
candidates for the right reasons and with unabashed fidelity to the
magisterial teaching of the Church.

This article
was taken from the March 1996 issue of "Christian Order".